According to a recent article in Wired magazine, a body could be worth up to $45 million — Calculated by selling the bone marrow, DNA, lungs, kidneys, heart … as components.

What about the value of a body based around just the chemical elements that make up a corpse?

Turns out if you break down a human body to its raw components, it’s worth about $160.

In this context it becomes a really meaningless number. This exact same thought exercise is exactly what comes to my mind every time a tech blog quotes iSuppli about how much the latest Apple product cost to build.

It’s all just hydrogen that has been processed by a star or a supernova.

Getting a star to turn into a supernova is the costly part.

meaningless

“meaningless number”

only in your mind.

BOM gives clues as to Apple’s margin on the device in question

and savings going forward as the component prices come down.

http://www.tumblr.com/blog/his-divine-shadow His Shadow

No, it doesn’t. Because iSuppli has no data on the associated costs of programming, design and marketing. iSuppli also has no firm idea what Apple, a company that buys staggering numbers of components, actually pays for said components.

Meaningless.

Boo

Yup. There’s also the costs of customer service, assembly, shipping, retail and online operations and R&D to factor in as well.

http://www.tumblr.com/blog/his-divine-shadow His Shadow

Good job, Peter. Now those who only skim articles will come away with the impression that Apple uses human organs in their products based on a cost breakdown from iSuppli.